IEBC sets out 2012 timeline

By Martin Mutua and Juma Kwayera

It is almost certain that next year’s General Election will be held in December.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Isaack Hassan on Saturday released timelines for the commission’s work that run up to December next year. The Commission

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Isaack Hassan. Photo: File/Standard

chairman falls short of proposing the date for the General Election, a matter that has triggered passionate debates because the Constitution provides that the election be held in August. There is a Bill before Parliament that seeks to alter the election date from the second Tuesday of August to December 17.

According to the timelines, Hassan points out that the commission will require 120 days to carry out the controversial delineation of the 80 new constituencies between November 8, 2011 and March 6, 2012.

After the exercise, there will be another 30 days for the public to review the process, which the commission has scheduled for March.

Thereafter, those who will be dissatisfied have 90 days to appeal to the High Court, which will hear all such matters between April 6 and July 4, 2012.

The commission has then set out another one month in July for public sensitisation including training, recruitment and updating of the new boundaries.

And the Hassan team further points out that in August they will require another 30 days to carry out voter registration.

Coalition of voters

The commission has then allocated another one month between September 3, 2012 to October 2, 2012 for de-duplication and collation of voters and another one month between October 3 and November 1 for the inspection of the voter register in accordance with the Election Act section 6(2).

Upon completion the commission envisages it will be able to publish the register in November a month before the election as required by the law between November 2, 2012 and December 1, 2012.

The new timelines by the IEBC are now bound to compound the raging debate on the elections date, which the Constitution says is supposed to be held on the second Tuesday of August.

When Hassan was interviewed for his current job, he was on record as telling the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Implementation of the Constitution chaired by Mohammed Abdikadir that the December date was the more realistic one while the August was a populist one.

The matter landed in the newly established Supreme Court, which has since tossed it over to the High Court for determination before it finds its way up again.

At the same time, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo managed to fend off opposition from some legislators to have a constitutional amendment Bill seeking to amend the poll date from August to December sail through Parliament for the first reading last month.

The Bill is now expected to come to the House for debate after 90 days that end in February.

Faced with legal, administrative and logistical challenges, IEBC must also navigate cautiously in the implementation of the Elections and Political Parties Acts or risk upsetting the process that is key to peaceful and democratic elections.

Constitutional mandate

In response to inquiries by The Standard On Sunday on its preparedness to execute its constitutional mandate, Hassan, said he is under pressure to compress the time they have to carry out some of the activities.

Mr Hassan, who was appointed to chair the commission three weeks ago, said it is not possible to comply with the statutory requirements and constitutional timelines and still remain on course to holding credible elections.

In a detailed response via email, the IEBC boss says, "Most processes and activities required to hold a huge election like the one ahead of us, are sequential and therefore an activity can only start once the preceding one is complete."

He sites Section 28 of the Elections Act 2011, which requires registered political parties to submit their party membership lists to the Registrar of Political Parties at least three months before they nominate their candidates. The IEBC is required by sections 16 and 17 of the Elections Act to receive party nominations at least 21 days before an election.

"Political Parties cannot have a list of members if voter registration and the verification of the register are not complete," he points out.

Political Parties Act

The Constitution, the IEBC Act, the Election Act and the Political Parties Act set clear guidelines and timeframes within which each exercise is to be completed and breach of any of those specific activities has the potential to invite serious legal challenges and inter-party disputes. The election timelines start from November 14, when the commissioners were sworn-in.

He says, "There are also administrative and logistical processes and activities that require strict adherence to the law. The procurement of materials is guided by the Public Procurement Act, which also has timelines and processes, which depending on the amounts involved, could take not less than two months to complete."

Rigidity of the law

Given the challenges the commission has developed its own timelines, but maintains the rigidity of the law and the fragile political reality make it difficult to circumvent some aspects of the timelines without eliciting suspicion.

He said IEBC plans to register 20 million voters. Then there is also the challenge of identity cards, a prerequisite for new voters. The elections boss hopes that potential voters who do not have ID cards will acquire them in time for voter registration.

The timelines are based on the assumption that political parties will be co-operative and Treasury disburses the funds in time, he says. "But even with the best case scenarios, these timelines simply overrun the runway," says Hassan.